Your Manuscript's Word Count is Important

Image by Pierre Metivier via Flickr

Probably, many of you already understand the importance of your manuscript's word count when considering traditional publishing. However, I'm posting this anyway because I didn't take this into account when I began writing my first "novel" (an inspirational romance), and it is important to consider. 

I am currently in the process of editing my manuscript because it isn't long enough for the book series I am targeting for publication. When I first began writing the story, I researched the minimum standard word count that represented a novel, which most sources will tell you is between 40,000 to 50,000. Because of my inexperience, and lack of research, I targeted my book for 50,000 words and that was that. I believe I ended up with about 47,000 when I completed the final draft and began querying literary agents. 

Many of the rejections I received didn't give me any feedback, so I didn't really know why they weren't interested in my story. I assumed I needed to revise my query letter, which was true. My letter wasn't terrible, but it did lack the potential to stand out in the sea of other queries.

When an agent did finally requested to see my full manuscript, they recommended it for a particular book series that required a maximum word count of 50,0000. Perfect, right? Well, it was until the publisher decided to cancel the book series. Luckily, the agent is allowing me to revise my book for another series, which requires 70,000 to 75,000 words. Terrific, right? Well, yes, but my manuscript was only at 50,000 words. That meant I had to add 20,000!

You're probably thinking, that's not too bad. After all, writing 20,000 words doesn't take that long. Well, when you're adding that many words to an existing manuscript, the addition is going to consist of more than fluff. I finally have the attention of an agent, I don't want to take away from the story, but instead, add value. In doing so, I've had to introduce a few new characters - one with a significant role - as well as a subplot. These changes have lead to multiple revisions and adjustments to the existing story.

Although it has been about two months since the agent's request, and I am finally on the downward slope to finishing the addition, I could have avoided this large revision if I had done a little research. 

I reviewed several sources for recommended word count, and most of them will tell you to target your first novel at an average of about 80,000 words. This is between the recommended range of 70,000 to 90,000. I would recommend considering a couple of things before settling on a particular number.

1. Consider your genre and target audience. Although 80,000 words is recommended for a fiction novel, as little as 40,000 and up to 120,000 words is considered novel range by definition. The reason for this is because different genres have different recommendations for word count. For example, if you're writing an adult mystery novel, the recommended word count is between 70,000 - 90,000, while the recommendation for a YA fiction is between 50,000 - 70,000. 
2. Consider the agency's guidelines. Each agent may have a range that they are more comfortable representing, so it is worth the time to go over your list of target agencies/agents and check their recommendations. I have seen on several agency sites where their guidelines state a minimum or maximum acceptable word count, even though a lower or higher one is generally accepted. 

What is your manuscript's word count? Have you ever had to revise it for an agent or editor?